


Sealed with a Kiss

by orphan_account



Category: Fairy Tail
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Families of Choice, Gen, less angst than you'd think, mostly fluff actually
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-10-20
Updated: 2016-02-14
Packaged: 2018-04-27 05:06:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 12,275
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5034931
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lucy compiles a list titled Bad Places to Summon a Demon while simultaneously trying to rebuild her guild with the very people who helped destroy it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So I delve back into the world of writing fanfiction, of course I start with absolute trash.

            There’s definitely something to be said for simpler missions, Lucy decided as she pulled a book off the shelf. Technically her only job had been to guard the bookstore against anyone looking to steal something the night prior, but she’d offered to help out during that day as well. There was nothing wrong with the tougher missions that she used to go on with her team but this was far less stressful and it’s something she could handle on her own, before she had to face reality and find a job.

            It’s while she was fixing books that had been misplaced by customers over the day that that she found them. There was only a small magical section in the store, less than two shelves of dusty books. Most of them, she noticed, appeared to be part of a series: there were no titles on the spines, but they were all made from the same brown leather and all equally old looking. There’s also the magical aura they all emitted, these weren’t just books on magic; more like magical items, more at home in a magical shop than a book store.

            Slipping a book on renowned Wizard Saints (which sounds redundant now that she thought about it, weren’t all the Saints renowned by nature) back into place, she gave into her curiosity and carefully picked up one of the books. Looking at the cover she was torn between being grateful that she was the one to pick it up and regretting having gotten out of bed that morning.

            Barely sparing time to open the book and confirm that it is what she thinks it is, she un-tensed her muscles and begins to move. She carefully put the pile of books she was supposed to be returning to their proper place down on the floor, grabs the rest of the series in her arms, and then sprinted not nearly so carefully to find the store’s owner.

            The little old woman who’d posted the original request had no idea that the books are magical in any way, she insisted that she had received them in a shipment of rare books. Lucy refrains from telling her that they were, in fact, one of a kind.

            “How much?” she said instead.

            “For the whole lot,” the woman said, wrinkly eyes gaze at her in confusion, “12,000 jewels, they’re normally 2,000 jewels but I’ll give you a discount if you buy the whole set.” Expensive for books, but she did say they were advertised as rare.

            Lucy knows that she had to look like a mess, she was pretty sure she wasn’t breathing enough with how light-headed she feels. She didn’t try to explain though, simply handed over the money. She was almost too full of energy to wait for the books to be bagged, but she had a long way to go. The Magic Council was far away from the little hamlet she was in, she just hoped that Jura or Warrod has time to see her.

* * *

 

            Neither of them were free to see her, but the panic on her face must have been apparent because the assistant that met her at the door ushers her in while the council’s still in session. Normally she’d have taken the time to admire the building, an amazing feat of architecture she was sure, but she’s on a mission. The enormous doors that concealed the Council members from sight were pushed open, and the shouting that had been muffled behind them reached her.

            Suddenly she was facing down nine glares from the end of a table and while her panic may have faded her urgency has not. Instead of freezing as she might have were it any other situation (or if it had happened a couple years ago) she hefted the bag carrying the books and upended it over the table.

            A couple of the members (Wizard Saints, she just stormed into a meeting of Wizard Saints oh sh-) look ready to demand what she thinks she’s doing, but their mouths snapped shut at the sight of the books on the table.

            Written out on the cover of all eight books were familiar names in block letters. Somehow she had stumbled upon several of the Books of Zeref. Specifically the ones containing the recently deceased members of Tartaros.

* * *

 

            It turned out the newly reformed Wizard Council had no policy on the books, besides the fact that they want absolutely nothing to do with them.

            “It’s really nothing personal,” Jura assured her as he escorted her from the building, “but while our new policy is against just hording powerful magic items, we do want them in the hands of people we trust.”

            Lucy understood, she really did, but “I don’t even have a house right now!”

            That earned her a surprised look, “Where have you been living for the past month?”

            “I’ve been wandering around, it’s been hard to find real employment so I’ve just been doing spare jobs and moving around.”

            He thankfully didn’t give her any pitying looks, but simply said “I wish you the best of luck.”

            He left her at the entrance with a warning, “Summoning demons isn’t technically illegal, but the Summoner will be charged for any illegal actions of the demon that they do under the Summoner’s command.”

            Lucy tried valiantly not to be ill at the thought of summoning a demon and resolved to ask Virgo to take the books with her to the Spirit World with her for safe keeping the next time she summoned the spirit. (She resolutely ignored the fact that she’d avoided summoning her spirits unless absolutely possible for the last month)

* * *

 

            Lucy’s resolve lasted a month, up until Jason offered her a real job working for Sorcerer Magazine. She realized that she hasn’t felt in control of her life for months and while she wasn’t actually sure how summoning demons would help her, it makes sense to her sleep-deprived brain after a night of no sleeping.

            She had been living out of an inn in Crocus at the time, (“You’re so close by already” Jason said”), otherwise known as a Bad Place to Summon a Demon, a list of places Lucy ended up creating in the wake of that evening.

            She had only meant to summon one to begin with, Franmalth since he had apparently been a literal fungus the last time anyone had seen him, but apparently people had failed to note that Demonic Summoning was similar to chemistry in that chain reactions were not uncommon: which is how she ended up with eight demons crowded in a small room at five in the morning.

            There was a silence as Lucy stared awkwardly at them, and where they blinked back at her in befuddlement (or she thinks it’s befuddlement, it’s hard to tell with some of them). Nothing else happened for several long drawn on sentences, before the drawling voice of the Underworld King broke the silence “How may we help you, Miss..?”

            And that’s when she realized that it was probably for the best she had no plans for the rest of the day, “Lucy Heartfilia.”

            “Miss Heartfilia” and the feral grin she had received from Mard Geer would have probably intimidated someone who hadn’t already fought members of Tartaros, but she just gave him an equally dangerous look.


	2. Chapter 2

            Lucy tries to explain it quickly, leaving out the more personal reasons and instead just tells them that without Fairy Tail she’s all alone. The demons seem to take this to mean she needs protection, which is half what she means.

            There’s a lot of argument, and while Lucy can’t quite understand what the demons appear to be saying she can get the gist of it. No one has ever successfully summoned an Etherious before (let alone eight), so none of them really have any idea how to proceed.

            “-n’t just summon us like-“ “-ing already you ann-“ “-ard Geer believes that-“ “-books are only-“

            “Lucy,” that comes from right behind her, and she pales at the sight of Jackal staring down at her from only a few inches away, “you’re a Celestial Mage, right?”

            She nods kind of dumbly, mostly because she’s afraid her voice will shake if she tries to answer him (“ _remember my name in hell”_ ), but he seems too distracted to notice.

            “Make contracts with us.”

            Lucy’s sure she is coming off as stupid at this point, because why hadn’t she thought of that?

            They’re trying to get a basic contract written out in pretty simple terms, simple because there’s no way Lucy’s running this by any lawyers and also because she’s not sure about the literacy level of some of the demons but doesn’t really want to incur their wrath by asking. The first few paragraphs are actually more of a peace treaty than anything else (they don’t harm her or her friends, and she won’t harm them and do her best to stop any allies from harming them either).

            Explaining that they can’t do things that are against the law seems to surprise them.

            “Why the hell would you summon us?” Torafuzar asks.

            She huffs at that, “I’m pretty sure you all are capable of simply not murdering someone, they all seem to disagree but relent when she adds the clause that they can break the law under her explicit command.

            From there it’s pretty simple, mostly just that when she summons them they answer, that’s when Mard Geer interjects, “We are, of course, unlike Celestial Spirits in that we do not have keys, and our books are not required to summon us,” here he looks down his nose at her, “it will of course require more energy without a conduit.”

            Lucy flushes, but doesn’t respond to the insinuation that she needed the boost and instead nodded in response.

            They manage to finish it off, (by they she means herself and Mard Geer, with occasional input from the other demons) and then she realizes that she has a problem.

            “I’m not actually familiar with the details of curses you guys use,” she says.

Lucy turns to the Underworld King who seems unimpressed if anything, “For the sake of time, I suggest you summon us individually in order to facilitate better working relationships, rather than have us all here at once.”

            As it turns out she was totally right to doubt the reading ability of the demons, because five of them require help picking up the pen. Teaching demons to read and write is a good bonding exercise, right?

* * *

 

            Demons are not spirits, Lucy had known this when she made the contract, but it takes a push for her to realize how different they really were.

            It starts with Mard Geer (who appeared to have two facial expressions when dealing with her, sneer and smirk), who asks her what her plans for her living conditions are while he helps her with a small job (Cancer is steadfastly ignoring him in the distance).

            She stares at him in bewilderment, “I hadn’t really thought about it.”

            “Well you can’t live in hotels forever.”

            She doesn’t respond, just goes back to working, she doesn’t want an argument with the demon, and she doesn’t really want to explain how she can’t afford a permanent home without a steady job.

            Three days later the innkeeper of the place she’s staying at hands her a letter from her old landlady. She wants to know when Lucy’s moving back in, because she just got the money for rent for the next three months.

            She resolves not to let Mard Geer go to the bank by himself anymore (she knew he had an ulterior motive for offering to deposit her money).

            After that it’s waking up to Franmalth, in the form of the ugliest cat she’s ever seen, curled up on her neck every morning. The worst part of that, other than never getting all the hair out of lungs, is that everything he’d previously absorbed had been lost upon returning to his book.

            When she summoned them she thought it would be more similar to her relationship with her spirits, calling them out for fights, maybe they’d be like Loke and summon themselves. Instead they tend to just act like flatmates who don’t actually need beds.

            She doesn’t want them to be friends, she wants to remember what they did, who they are. That’s easier when she only sees them when she summons them for fighting, it’s a lot harder when they’re infiltrating every corner of her life far more thoroughly than her team mates or her spirits ever had.

* * *

 

            Lucy realizes she’s starting to relax around them when she wakes up one morning to the smell of bacon, and rather than tensing (or drowsily forgetting everything that’s happened and thinking it’s Team Natsu) she merely gets out of bed (she’s still tired so it’s more like oozes onto the floor and lying there for a couple minutes) and heads downstairs.

            Someone has gotten Keyes an apron. That’s not normally something Lucy would care about, but it’s also the only thing he’s wearing. There’s a skeleton in her kitchen, flipping bacon while keeping a careful eye on the waffle iron and he’s wearing nothing but an apron that reads “Kiss the Cook.”

            The new table that she had recently bought (with Mard’s money, but whatever) is about half full, and none of them seem disturbed by the fact that Keyes is wearing so little clothing so she mentally shrugs and leans over to give the skeleton a kiss on his bony cheek before taking her seat.

            Keyes scowls at her, and she gathers he was forced into the apron, which makes her wonder if he was completely naked to begin with, before her attention is drawn away by the hands covering her eyes.

            “Guess who?”

            “Is it Taurus?” the hands are removed, to be replaced with the upside-down face of a scowling Loke.

            “I sound nothing like Taurus!” he’s pouting, which is a good sign, as is the fact that he’s teasing her. Most of her spirits like to pretend that her demons (they are her demons now) don’t exist, but Loke’s been making an effort to relax around them.

            He slides into the seat next to hers and it doesn’t quite feel natural yet, but Ezel’s still trying to get him to arm-wrestle like it is, so it could be.

            It turns out Keyes is a good cook, “It’s kinda messed up, because he doesn’t even have a tongue, look he’s not even eating,” Kyoka gestures. Lucy giggles, because Keyes is currently arguing with Tempesta, who has finished eating already, and she can easily see he does indeed lack a tongue.

            Loke is valiantly trying to fend Franmalth off from crawling into his lap, apparently oblivious to the fact that he’s not a real cat, and misses when Ezel swipes his empty plate for the lion’s still mostly full one. Ezel gets a fight, but it’s mostly just Loke punching him into the wall.

* * *

 

            For the months before she summoned the demons, Lucy had had nightmares of losing Aquarius, of Jackal laughing, they’d been less infrequent since she made a contract with him, but was she still wary of him.

            She’s been getting most of her jobs from odd requests in the news, stuff that doesn’t really need mages. The job she had gone one was to investigate a supposedly haunted swamp, which is kind of dumb, but it pays well (even if Mard Geer assures her that he doesn’t mind paying for her expenses until Fairy Tail reforms).

            Lucy hadn’t bothered to bring any books besides Franmalth, because he’d asked her last time if it was okay if he absorbed any corpses he came upon. So when an enormous monster made out of what appears to be mud and plants lifts its gargantuan head and makes a swipe at her and her hands are too slippery to grip her keys she panics and summons the first person she can think of.

            Jackal looks genuinely surprised to be summoned, it’s the first time she’s summoned him, but to his credit wastes no time in unleashing his power on the monster that’s actively trying to eat them both.

            It’s really Lucy’s fault that she hadn’t thought about what would happen if a monster made out of swamp was exposed to the explosive power of Jackal. That doesn’t stop her from glaring at him, but he seems even more miserable than her. Both of them are coated in mud, but his tail seems to be stuck in the muck.

            The mission is relatively smooth from there, the strange calls that the nearby town had reported had either been the monster itself or the natural local wildlife.

            It’s awkward, they haven’t really talked since he suggested making a contract, but she wants to make an effort to make it more comfortable. “I’m never going to be clean again,” she says, as they finally exit the swamp.

            Jackal laughs, a lower more natural sound than the cackle she has nightmares about, “I’m pretty sure there’s mud up my ass.”

            “Aren’t dogs supposed to lick their butts anyway?” she blurts out, and then pales because this might be how she dies.

            Instead he starts laughing again, “I just take showers, hopefully the soap’s enough.” He’s grinning at her, and his smile is still terrifying but she thinks that it’s more to do with his teeth than anything else.

            She dreams about breaking Aquarius’s key that night, but it hurts less than it did before.


	3. Chapter 3

                Jackal was totally prepared to not like his new summoner, but he really really does.

 

                ( _All eight of them are sort of huddled around a small coffee table, and Jackal’s on duty to make sure the blonde doesn’t wake up while they talk._

_“Does she really think we’re going to buy some sort of shit about just wanting protection?” Ezel breaks the silence._

_“She’s only had contact with dog-breath, probably thinks we’re all as dumb as him.” He sneers at Kyoka, but he doesn’t want to start a commotion in an inn at 6 in the morning by getting into a fight._

_“So what are we going to do?” Shout out to Tempesta for asking the obvious questions, the one that should have been asked before they fucking signed a contract with the girl._

_“We play along, as the one who summoned us she dictates our actions. She wants a replacement for the guild mates that left her, I’m sure we can handle domesticity.” (Is Mard sneering because their new summoner is human? But that doesn’t make sense, Zeref was human as well)_

_Jackal’s pretty sure that he cannot handle pretending to be friends with the woman who defeated him but it’s not like he has a choice)_

 

She’s smart like Mard Geer, but unlike the Underworld King she’s yet to talk down to him. Lucy doesn’t care that his eyes glaze over whenever she gets too advanced, because Mard Geer and Kyoka are more than willing to talk to her about advanced magical theory. He’s pretty sure Mard’s actually holding some sort of tutoring with her about it actually, because the man keeps trying to ask him about his curse power (and it says something that the interim master never thought to ask these sort of things in the hundreds of years they’ve known each other).

He expects Lucy to be prissy, she uses spirits to fight for her after all, and she totally is a weakling (and continues to be unable to take a hit for shit) but she’s still right there next to them during every fight. Jackal thinks she’s pretty good at not trying to micromanage the Etherious like she has to with her spirits, and it’s adorable how she wants to be a partner to them rather than any sort of master. (Apparently her spirits are working with her on a new form of magic but seeing as the most combat Jackal’s seen her involved in since their own fight is a (pretty strong) kick to the stomach he’s pretty skeptical)

                Jackal normally doesn’t take criticism well, which something he knows about himself (because you know what Kyoka, fuck off, he’s not a fucking child and he’s fucking fantastic and he knows what he’s doing) but Lucy generally doesn’t criticize, she just gives him these disappointed looks like she expects better than him (which is fucking bullshit). He’d made the mistake of laughing at a client’s misfortune (the guy wasn’t in the room, he’s not that dumb, also if he has to find one more missing cat because Lucy is a bleeding heart and he’s the best tracker he’s going to blow the shit out of the furball) and she’d just scowled at him, and fuck him because Jackal had wanted nothing more than to apologize and he doesn’t fucking apologize.

                Unlearning old habits is hard, but Lucy makes him want to be better and even though she only contracted him two months ago he wants to please her and it drives him crazy because it won’t ever happen. While he doesn’t exactly advertise it like the dragon slayers do (because he has a limit to how many dog jokes he can take) his sense of smell is far superior to that of an average human and Jackal hates how fear is no longer as intoxicating as it once was because Lucy reeks of it every time she looks at him. As if his own senses aren’t enough, that fucking lion likes to remind him whenever they cross paths that Lucy still has nightmares about fighting him.

Lucy doesn’t seem to let her fear hinder her from interacting with him though. It’s kind of the opposite actually, she seems totally determined to spend time with him despite their total lack of obvious common interests. She’s pretty persistent about trying to get to know him and Jackal was never able to resist talking about himself godamnit.

 

                He’s not really sure why he’s sitting in Lucy’s living room in the dark, everybody except for Franmalth (the fucking suck-up) prefer to spend the night as ink and paper rather than squeeze onto Lucy’s couch, yet here Jackal is sitting there like a psycho in the dark. He’s drifting off to sleep (if the other Etherious catch him like this in the morning he’s never going to hear the end of it) when a bloodcurdling scream sends him scrambling from the couch.

                There’s a part of his brain that’s reminding him that he is the last person Lucy will want to see because he can hear her sobbing incoherent apologies to her spirit. However the more prominent part (that is probably a better reflection of his own impulsive personality) is telling him that he needs to comfort her, that Lucy’s scared and could maybe help. He stumbles into her room, stubs his toe on the door jam and goes sprawling on the ground (thankfully Franmalth appears to have fucked off at the first sign of tears, which is probably the smarter decision)). He pushes himself to his feet and god there she is, he can barely see her in the dark but he can smell her tears and her hiccupping sobs.

                Jackal basically throws himself at Lucy, and he wonders if she thinks he’s Loke because she doesn’t flinch or scream again just wraps her arms around him and grasps his shoulders. He rubs hands on her back in what he understands is a comforting manner (his hands are meant to destroy, these are the hands that caused her nightmares). She’s shuddering against him, and he tries to remember some sort of lullaby (because even though his singing is apparently shit apparently his humming is worse) in the hope that it helps. He can’t think of any song like that besides twinkle twinkle but no one’s ever called him original.

                Halfway through Jackal’s second time through the song and Lucy’s stopped crying and stills against his chest, he worries that she’s freaked out by him being there so he keeps going. By the end of the fourth repeat he can feel her shoulders shuddering against him but it’s pretty obviously laughter, the fucking woman is laughing at him after he goes to all this work to comfort him.

                She looks up at him with a pout when he stops singing and he’s never been good against pouting (regardless of who it comes from, he only falls for Torafuzar because it’s funny to see a shark pouting he swears). There’s tears on her lashes and her cheeks are still wet but she’s giggling, “Why’d you stop singing?”

                Jackal scowls at her and thanks Ankhseram that no one else is here to witness this, but Lucy’s jutting out her lower lip and he’s fucking singing again. He’s pretty sure he looks ready to commit homicide but the fucking nursery rhyme coming out of his mouth might ruin the effect because Lucy’s grinning back at him. Lucy glows like the stars she summons, and fuck him but Jackal doesn’t just want to gaze at her from a distance.


	4. Chapter 4

Celestial spirits have lives outside of their summoner in the celestial world, but the Etherious are only ink and paper when they’re not out, totally unaware of the passage of time. They spend most of their free time crammed into her apartment, so Lucy spends more time with them in four months than she’s spent with her spirits in all the years she’s known them, they’ve all collectively decided to refer to all this time together as “enforced bonding”.  
She tries to find things to do that actually qualifies as bonding, and it’s just Lucy’s luck that the letter arrives as she and Kyoka are talking. Kyoka had asked where Lucy got her hair done, and Lucy had been embarrassed to realize that she hadn’t realized that this was something that the Etherious had to think about.  
The Etherious have met all of her spirits at some point or another (and watching Ezel and Taurus trying to out-lift the other had been hilarious) so Kyoka blinks in shock when she summons Cancer forth in her apartment. Twenty minutes later Kyoka is sitting at the table leafing through magazines, while Lucy valiantly tries to find a hairstyle for the picky demon. Cancer has a few good ideas but Kyoka reminds them that she needs to be able to wear her helmet.  
It’s this scene that Mard Geer walks into, holding the mail and looking more tired than anything. He hands Lucy a stack of letters and sits himself down to Kyoka picking up a magazine for himself.  
There are no bills of course (because why would Mard let her, an adult, pay her own bills when he could infuriate her instead?), there’s a few thank you notes from old clients and a letter from Wendy in Lamia Scale that makes her smile. At the very bottom is a crisp envelope that makes her stomach drop.

While Keyes has the worst sense of humor of all the demons (Jackal had declared that he had a terminal case of stick up the ass and Ezel had pretended to faint dramatically, crushing Tempesta along the way, and the skeleton had frowned at them) Torafuzar is by far the most serious. When Lucy had asked him to come along with her on a mission the demon had agreed with no complaints or questions. He’s a pretty good conversationalist though, and it’s nice to have someone to talk to while walking.  
Franmalth is currently imitating a particularly hideous parakeet on her shoulder, echoing her words back at her with the occasional refrain of “How much? How much?” added in. It’s kind of distracting while trying to hold a conversation with the larger demon but it’s ultimately pretty harmless in the list of annoying things she’s had to endure from the demons and from her spirits.  
“You want me for sense of smell, right?” Lucy turns away from watching Plue jump from rock to rock to stare at him in surprise. He doesn’t quite blush but his cheeks look redder than usual but that might also because the morning is very brisk, “I’m not an idiot, you don’t want me for my armor, but my nose is better than Jackal’s.”  
“The council has received multiple reports of suspected dark wizards in the town nearby, they might be trying to recruit.”  
“And you want me to find them because the Magic Council has no idea where they actually are” he says the word “Magic Council” not with disdain, but just with a total lack of respect that makes her giggle because trying to actually discipline any of the Etherious when they say things like that is a futile effort.  
“Basically”  
He grunts but doesn’t look upset (or complain about being used “like a god damn blood hound” like Jackal does), “Have anything from them for me to track?”  
Plue begins making agitated sounds at that moment, running back to her with clumsy steps. He’s holding a scrap of cloth with the stylized inverse A she recognizes from the letter. She stares at the purple fabric, likely from a flag if the texture is anything to go by and silently thanks Mavis that she doesn’t have to tell Torafuzar that she had in fact forgotten about that part.  
Torafuzar tracks the scent through the forest, it takes longer than expected and the sun is beginning to set when he announces that he smell people nearby.  
He’s pretty defensive of that actually, “Jackal has the same problem as the slayers do, they’re better at tracking people and that sort of shit, but that means they have to move fast before the scent fades. I’m able to smell magic, and that lingers for longer but it’s a lot fainter and tends to disperse over an area so I have to concentrate.”  
Lucy stares at him, and he glares out of the corner of his eyes before indicating to a hill a half mile off, “That’s where they are, we can’t get any closer or we risk them seeing us coming.”  
She stares up at the hill top, and she can sort of make out figures amongst the trees, “The Council doesn’t want this traced back to them and I don’t want to incur the wrath of another dark guild” (Franmalth mutters something about “wannabe’s” under his breath and flutters his wings angrily) “It should be simple, but I’d prefer we wait until most of them are asleep.”

“Recruitment drives don’t require this many people,” Lucy hasn’t been able to rid herself of the thought since she realized just how many men there were in the encampment, Torafuzar confirming that there’s no sign of any permanent magical settlement nearby.  
It lurks in the back of her head as she walks into the camp, looking around. It’s still dark out, but it’s clearly meant to be temporary, in fact it looks like the camp is only a few days old at most, which doesn’t match up with what they’ve been told.  
Franmalth finishes absorbing the last of the men from Aries’s wool, looking bloated and she gives them both thumbs up. The lamb stutters and apologizes and dismisses herself while Franmalth transforms into his preferred ugly cat form, looking more bloated than usual. Without the wool there’s no signs of a struggle left, it looks like they all just disappeared but the tents and fire pit are still there to remind her of their unexplainable presence.  
The Magic Council pays well, well enough for Lucy to consider working for them full time, but for some reason they chose to send the mission to her, instead of one of their own employees and it leaves a bad taste in her mouth. They send her a few other requests (there’s no pattern between them) and after the third one she stops worrying that one of them is going to be an order to appear before them to stand trial.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm really unhappy with this chapter but it needed to happen


	5. Chapter 5

                The reformation of Fairy Tail starts (strangely enough) while she’s trying to teach Kyoka how to braid hair. Tempesta (whose own hair is done up in the neatest braid she’s ever seen) is working Mard’s hair into a multi-layer complex as they look on while Mard himself is browsing uninterestedly through a copy of Sorceror Weekly.

                “Not like that, you just move it to the middle,” she tries to correct the demon.

                “That’s what I’m doing,” as she twists her hair in a way that is distinctly not how Lucy told her. Tempesta makes a snorting sound that she has come to equate with amusement.

                Lucy demonstrates again with her own hair, hands moving slowly for Kyoka’s benefit, but for some reason she can’t seem to handle doing it correctly for more than a couple seconds before she creates a knot or accidentally undoes the whole thing.

                “It would be easier if she was working on someone else,” Mard offers, not looking up from the article he’s reading. Asshole.

                “I need to see what she’s doing, and you made it clear that you aren’t willing to help,” she glares at them, but half of the reason is to disguise her mirth at seeing Tempesta stealthily insert flowers into Mard’s hair.

                Lucy turns back around in a huff only to discover Kyoka clumsily constructing a passable braid, the demon’s face contorted in concentration as she worked.

                She works silently for a couple minutes before running out of hair, and Lucy’s pretty sure this weird sort of warm feeling in her chest is generally supposed to be reserved for parents and their children but damn it she’s allowed to be proud of _her_ demons.

                It’s while Kyoka is working on Lucy’s own hair that Mard interjects again, “There’s an article about Fairy Tail in here.”

                “Oh?” Lucy wishes her voice came out stronger but every time she feels like that wound’s beginning to scab over it’s ripped fresh open.

                “It’s a real tragedy how after those who were left behind for seven years worked so hard to keep the guild together it disbands so quickly after they return,” he’s studying her from underneath his eyelashes, “at least that’s what the article seems to be saying.” Asshole.

                Lucy doesn’t quite flinch, but it’s a close thing. It’s a punch to the gut to hear the very thoughts that have been tormenting her at night coming from the man who’s directly responsible for the dissolution of the guild.

                Tempesta tugs harshly on Mard’s hair, and Kyoka awkwardly continues braiding her hair while the silence stretches on.

                “They’re right.” Three pairs of eyes jolt to look at her when she speaks, the words heavy coming out her mouth. “They waited all those years for us and we let them down.”

                Kyoka stops braiding to pat the top of her head in the second most uncomfortable attempt at comfort she’s received from the Etherious, “It’s hardly your fault. It was your Guild Master’s decision to disband Fairy Tail, was it not?”

                “But we didn’t have to just stand there and take it! We could have elected a new master or something!”

                “It was not solely your responsible-“ Mard tries to calm her down, and she realizes she’s crying but for once when it comes to Fairy Tail they’re angry tears.

                “I’m disappointed in everyone who let this happen, not just myself.”

                “I do not doubt Fairy Tail will one day return-“

                “I’m not going to wait for someone else to do what we should have done months ago,” she gets up abruptly, her hair falling out of the braid as she marches from the room.

                The letter is simple, there’s not much to be said, even after all the time that’s passed.

                ‘Since when do we listen to Gramps?’

                It feels distinctly like too little too late, but if this doesn’t work then nothing will at this point. She hopes that Master Bob doesn’t mind passing along the message.

 

                Lucy puts the letter out of her thoughts the next day, assuring herself that it’s out of her hands know and decides to concentrate on more important matters. Loke and Jackal have both been separately petitioning to make dinner, and someone (Virgo) had slyly suggested that it would be a good bonding activity for them to do it together. Lucy’s not sure why they both want to cook so badly but they hopefully won’t be getting up to too much mischief. She’s stationed Plue in the kitchen to watch them to make sure they don’t start a fight (because it’s hard to resist Plue and Jackal absolutely adores him for some reason, maybe it’s because he’s a fellow dog?).

                She’s curled up on the couch next Keyes and Tempesta, reading a book about the conversion of mass to magical energy in transformation magic that Mard had recommended to her in regard to her questions about Franmalth’s curse. It’s a bit dry but there’s no way she’s not going to know everything there is to know about _her_ demons.

                Loke pokes his head of the kitchen to tell them that dinner’s going to be ready in five minutes and he doesn’t look even slightly injured so Lucy’s going to tentatively call the experiment a success when the doorbell rings.

                She gets up with a groan (letting the Etherious answer the door is a recipe for disaster) and before she’s even made a step towards it the person there starts knocking, loudly.

                “I’m coming!” She calls, carefully stepping over a very content looking cat curled up on the floor and making her way over the door where the person is **still** knocking.

                Lucy swings the door open, to be greeted by a haggard looking Freed who looks embarrassed to be caught so rudely banging on her door. “Uh, how can I help you Freed?”

                “My apologies for intruding at your house at such a rude hour, but Laxus requests your presence at the guild,” her heart feels like it’s about to pound out of her chest at the rate its beating.

                “Well we wouldn’t want to keep him waiting, now would we?” Freed nods distractedly, whirling around and walking briskly away.

                Lucy turns around to shout that she’s heading out for a bit before she runs after him, a smile threatening split her face in half. She’s never going to hear the end of it for missing in dinner but as she follows Freed, dusk setting over Magnolia, she feels like her family is beginning to piece itself back together.

 

                Freed and Bickslow greet her with smiles, looking up from the books they’re looking over, but Laxus himself is nowhere to be seen. Freed drags her over to sit by them and hands her a book, he looks like he could use a good night’s sleep but Lucy would never suggest that to him.

                “There’s not really a precedent for reforming guilds,” Evergreen explains, making notes in the margin of the book, “but so far there’s nothing that appears to be able stop us.”

                They’ve given her a book on obtaining different types of magical permits and she flips to the pages on guilds and starts reading it.

                “Master dissolved the guild, we’re not sure why the marks remained, but according to the Magic Council Fairy Tail is legally no longer a guild, so we’re starting from scratch,” Freed tells her as she looks into permits to distribute magical quests.

                “We have to found a new guild?”

                “You got it,” Bickslow answers, “we’re founding a new guild, with Laxus as the temporary master, and calling it Fairy Tail.”

                “Will we be able to get the guild hall?” Lucy really hopes it doesn’t turn out she’s trespassing on private property or something.

                “That’s up to the town right now, but it’s likely that they’ll give it to us” Freed says, copying something onto a separate piece of paper.

                They’ve been working for nearly an hour in near silence, Lucy taking notes on all the licenses that a guild needs in order to run properly, when Laxus bursts in angrily.

                She’s surprised to see him taking to Doranbolt who looks like he would rather be anywhere else then at the receiving end of the Dragon Slayer’s glare but is holding up remarkably well under it.

                “Mest here says that Gramps is in Alvarez, but he’s being tightlipped about everything else,” the man doesn’t even flinch under Laxus’s look, scowling back at him.

                “It’s handled, it’s a delicate situation and you’ll just screw it up.”

                Laxus makes a disgusted sound and collapses into a chair with a huff, nodding at her in greeting. “How goes the work?”

                “As far as we’ve found there’s nothing stopping us from forming a guild with the same name as an old one, and I doubt the Council will have any argument, as it is being formed by old members of the previous Fairy Tail,” Freed says.

                Doranbolt/Mest is giving her weird looks and Lucy remembers suddenly that the Council had mentioned sending letters to him as well as Michello and other direct victims of other Tartaros about their whole continued existence thing. He doesn’t say anything thankfully just stares at her like she’s a puzzle he wants to solve (if he tries to eat her like Wendy says he did then so help her-).

                “Let’s call a break for tonight, I’m starving,” Laxus says suddenly. Lucy flushes, recalling running out on her own dinner and hopes she’s not about to make a mistake.

                “You’re welcome to come to my apartment for dinner if you’d like,” she offers. The look Doranbolt/Mest is giving her (she’s just going to mentally call him Mest she decides) indicates that it’s totally a mistake.


	6. Chapter 6

Telling time is pretty hard when you're made up of words on paper but Jackal thinks he's gotten pretty good at figuring out how long he's been out for (he has had plenty of practice in the past few months). Typically he's summoned at nine in the morning at the latest and his body feels rested, like he's been sleeping dreamlessly for the night, but when Lucy summons him on missions he feels high-strung, like he just woke up from a cat nap. He's not really capable of summoning himself totally independently, so he has no idea how that feels (but when she summons him to her when he's already out it feels like he's just been dunked into a pool of ice water).

This is the first time Lucy has summoned him within minutes of him leaving and right now Jackal feels like he just got rudely shoved out of bed (he should stop with the sleep comparisons, but they're pretty accurate) so he feels sort of disoriented. Not disoriented not to give Lucy his signature grin though, which promptly falls off his face when he recognizes what he's looking at.

Tartaros had files on nearly every member of every guild (dark, legal, fucking Crime Sorciere) and the Magic Council, Jackal's never been great with memorizing shit like that. He's not great with faces either, but he recognizes this one. The expression is different, last time he saw him the face was contorted with anguish and guilt, now it's mostly disgust with some underlying anger.

There's a hundred things to say running through his head (and before Lucy he would have been debating which to say) (it's good to see you again) (do you remember my name) (you're the one who I let live) (you let me kill the man you were supposed to protect) (how does it feel to be talking to the man who destroyed the council) (I knew I should have killed you before you came back to bite me in the ass) he says none of these, "I'm not going to apologize."

Lucy is frowning but honestly she should know better by this point, "I didn't call you here to apologize, it would be nice if you would," he hates that disappointed tone, "I wanted you-"

He doesn't find out what exactly she did want because she gets cut off by the man (actually there's several men in her kitchen but there is only one important one), "Do you regret it?"

"No." There's a sharp intake of breath from someone else, but he refuses to break eye-contact to find out who it is (probably not Lucy, she does know better when it comes to that).

"Would you do it again?"

"If Lucy asked me to," if Lucy gave even the slightest indication that she wanted him to take the Council down again (even if it would now be basically a suicide mission (he'd take on the world for Lucy if she wanted him to)).

The man seems mollified, either from Jackal's loyalty to his new summoner or his own confidence in Lucy never desiring that.

Lucy seems to sense that there's no fight about to break out so she takes the time to introduce him to the other people in her kitchen (he mentally labels them as 'the guy who fought Tempesta" and 'the guys that were there when he fought Tempesta') he also finds out the man's name is Mest (he doesn't get a nickname, but he does get Jackal's gratitude for not punching him in the nose).

Jackal grudgingly digs out enough curry (and the fight with the fucking lion he'd had in order to make curry instead of whatever lame pasta dish the spirit wanted to make) for everyone, assuring Lucy that he's not upset that she wasn't there for dinner and he understands why she didn't make it.

Lucy summons Tempesta as well, who also doesn't apologize, but does get into a discussion with the hulking blonde guy (he remembers his name, he learned it a few minutes before, it starts with an L and Jackal fucking remembers it) about his curse magic. Tempesta can summon lightning but he generally considers it to be a waste of energy (takes too much time, only hits a small area) and apparently the guy is personally offended by this.

He's debating leaving after an hour, he's not really sure why he's still there to begin with, and then suddenly Mest decides he needs to start an argument (this may have to do with the wine Lucy brought out after dinner).

"It's too bad you won't actually be able to join Fairy Tail when it's reformed," he says.

Jackal doesn't even want to join Fairy Tail, Lucy's mentioned it before and he the rest of the Etherious all agree that they don't really feel any desire to join another guild. Lucy's spirits weren't guild members (except for Loke, fucking lion) and there's no need for them to be either, but fuck this guy for telling him he can't do something.

"You got something to say to me?"

The fucker is smirking, "It's the same set of laws that prevented the Council from charging you with any crimes: you're a summoned creature, and only humans, no spirits or demons, can join guilds."

Jackal whips his head around to face Lucy, who seems surprised, "I didn't know that, no one ever raised a fuss about Loke."

Mest shrugs, "He joined under false pretenses, but since he technically had no summoner at the time there's no one to charge."

He remembers reading those dry books Lucy had given to them, more accurately he remembers not reading them, but Lucy telling them how as 'summoned creatures' she's responsible for any crimes they commit (imagining the Council trying to charge Zeref with the laws they broke had kept them entertained for hours).

From there the talk turns back to rebuilding the guild, and he sticks around just long enough to Lucy she's got dishes (because they're her guests making a mess in the kitchen and Ezel had already cleaned everybody else's dishes) and give Mest a pat on the back that makes the air leave the other man's lungs.

By noon the next day Fairy Tail is officially back, Jackal watches with Loke as Laxus (that's his name, he totally remembered) fills out a form to dissolve it and because he's feeling charitable he doesn't mentioned the tears in the lion's eyes as all their guild marks disappear (neither of them will ever bare guild marks again- not as long as they belong to Lucy). Then they fill out more forms and Freed digs out the stamp and now Fairy Tail is a guild with six members (Mest had slunk in again).


	7. Chapter 7

Apparently Laxus (and Lucy insists that he use his name) sent letters to all the ex-Fairies the moment he got his own letter from Lucy, because they've been drifting into Magnolia for the past two days since Fairy Tail was refounded (and maybe some of them come because they miss the mark on their skin- but Jackal wouldn't know anything about that). Lucy insists on introducing her demons (and he denies that he likes being referred to as hers) to each and every member that returns, so he makes eye contact with Mard from across the room (because the Underworld King looks equally ready to run) and they make a break for it simultaneously.

Of course they immediately run into the woman that Lucy had introduced as Mirajane the day before, he gives Mard a panicked look, but the other man looks way too intimidated by the mage that managed to takeover Sayla (and hadn't that been a fun conversation) to say anything.

Jackal stutters out something about errands, which the woman clearly doesn't believe, and grabs the collar of Mard's shirt before running off.

They're both laughing as they run, ducking into alley's every now and then to make sure no one's following them, and it feels good. It reminds him of when E.N.D. was around, and it occurs to him that the easy going attitude Lucy has has rubbed off on the others as well. Mard has always had an enormous stick up his ass (even before E.N.D. had been bound away) and it warms the fucking cockle's of Jackal's heart to know that Lucy has somehow removed it (and isn't that a funny image (it's not funny, and he refuses to examine the anger he's feeling at the thought)).

They do end up running errands because Lucy's kitchen is a little barren since she's been hosting people for dinner for three nights straight (dinners which only Mard was invited to). They split up at the market, which is why Jackal is alone when he hears it.

Jackal is not unfamiliar with the sound of crying (a part of him still revels in it, but that part is not as loud as the part that reminds him that Lucy hates that sound) but he doesn't have a lot of experience with children. It's probably a good sign that his first reaction is to figure out what's wrong and fix it (rather than make it worse, Lucy would be so proud).

People are just starting to notice the sound when he finds the source (his ears are good for something other than target practice after all) and he kneels down in front of the girl who's looking around anxiously, probably for her parents.

He hasn't had to comfort children like ever, but kids like dogs, and he's basically a dog ? (fuck his life) so he gives her a smile and tries not to show too much teeth.

"Hey kiddo, what's wrong?" As if the child's cries for their parents wouldn't tell him, thankfully Mard appears to be nowhere in sight.

"Mama and Papa are gone!" at least that's what he thinks she's saying, he's taking liberties because it's more like "Ma man pa paragon" with the sobs and snot coming out of kid.

He leans over and ruffles her hair (he's not good at this), "Don't worry, I'll help you find them." The people who have gathered to see what the fuss is about disperse, seeing that someone else has taken responsibility for the crying child.

She looks up, purple eyes glistening with tears, "Really?

"Yep," he pops the p, "my name's Jackal, what's your name?"

She sniffles, " 'm Asuka."

"Alright Asuka, where'd you last see your parents?"

The girl, Asuka, looks around before stopping and pointing authoritatively in the direction of the train station, "There! But they were going to Fairy Tail!" her sniffles have cleared up and her voice has only the slightest warble left.

Jackal wants to curse, he was hoping he wouldn't have to face the music for another hour or so, but the kid's obviously already wandered off from where she first lost her parents, and he's pretty sure ? the next best thing to do is go where they were intending in the first place.

However, just in case the parents are around to see their daughter, he reaches down to lift her up and deposit her on his shoulders and stands up carefully (it has nothing to do with the giggles that replace any sounds of unhappiness from Asuka).

"So what are your parents' names?"

"My papa's name is Alzack and my mama is Bisca," she announced proudly.

"Are they mages?"

"Yeah! What about you?"

"What about me?" he teases.

"Are you a mage?"

"Nah, but I work for one," he sees Mard in the distance, giving him a perplexed look, he can quite shrug with the kids on his shoulders but he tries to indicate through facial expression what's happening. Mard gives him a strange look before turning around.

"Who do you for then?"

"Her name's Lucy-"

"I know Lucy! Are you a spirit?" Obviously she'd know Lucy, she did say her parents were taking her to go to Fairy Tail after all.

"Something like that," he does shrug this time, and she shrieks delightedly as it jostles her.

"Are you a kitty like Loke?"

He doesn't scowl, but it's a close thing, "I'm more of a dog, I guess-"

"A jackal!" she giggles.

"That's right, kiddo," he's so glad no one here knows him, because he's totally giggling along with the kid.

Their journey to the guild passes quickly, he allows her to good naturedly tug on his ears and totally doesn't just talk about how great Lucy is for the entire walk. Asuka seems happy, asking about what he does ("I blow monsters up if they get too close to her" "woah!") and what Lucy's been doing for the last couple months.

He picks her off his shoulders as they approach the guild (he has a reputation as a fucking badass who doesn't carry kids around in his shoulders).

He steps back as Asuka opens the door, hiding from sight, from her happy shrieks of "Mama! Papa!" he doesn't need to worry about trying to explain what happened.

Lucy sidles up to him as he awkwardly tries to blend into the shadows, avoiding the attention of those within the guild, Asuka is plastered to a green haired women who he assumed is Bisca while a man who must be Alzack engulfs them both in a huff. "Did you just rescue a lost kid?"

He gives her a death glare, but his (probably tellingly defensive) retort is cut off by the feel of something grasping onto his shorts. There's also a round of shocked gasps, which affirms what he thinks is happening.

Jackal looks down at the beaming girl, "What's up, kiddo?"

She makes a gesture that even he, whose experience with children is a grand total of 30 minutes outside of today, recognizes as a demand to be picked up (she's kinda big for that isn't she, whatever).

He does though, and she throws her arms around his neck, her (very cute) hat which she just reclaimed from her father brushing against his hair, she lets out a garbled "thank you" before he sets her down.

Everyone is staring at him (and he doesn't shuffle awkwardly because he's a fucking Demon from the Books of Zeref) before Asuka breaks the silence again, "Jackal brought me here!"

He wants to fucking melt into the floor but instead he just gives the girl a smile that he hopes doesn't look too strained and pretends he can't feel Lucy laughing next to him (all the other Etherious are fucking dead for laughing though).

When Asuka hands him a wrapped gift the next day Jackal is most definitely not flattered (especially not because it's a bandanna and he's been missing his since- for a while, and he definitely doesn't adore the little hearts on it). Asuka demands that Lucy tie in on his neck for him and he doesn't blush, but he attributes that to superb control over his bodily functions because he's totally embarrassed.

Also Mirajane keeps cooing about how good he is with children and Lucy keeps pointing out how she's only ever seen him with Asuka so how would Mirajane know how he is with other kids, and there's no way this is going to end well (expect maybe it totally will).


	8. Chapter 8

"Fairy Tail new guild master runs a hard shift, you guys have barely been back together for a week and he's already insisting that you head out on a mission." Lucy would like to say she doesn't know why she dragged Jackal along with her on her first official quest for the reformed guild, but she totally does. He was a prickly bastard who couldn't help starting fights.

"What's wrong, missing your cat naps?" Trying to get the rest of the guild to improve their opinions on her demons was hard enough without him actively sabotaging her attempts. It served a dual purpose, keeping him away from everyone else while more 'friendly' demons made nice, and showing he could be helpful on jobs.

"I'm not a fucking cat!" Lucy continues walking towards what was supposed to be an pack of wolves, not having to look behind her to know that Jackal was likely frothing at the mouth.

"Don't get your panties in a twist, dog breath," she muttered, more fondly than she had expected.

The indignant shouting of Jackal proved to be a good distraction on the walk, the demon seemingly content to keep complaining with no more jibes from Lucy's end.

He didn't stop complaining even when they reached the wolves that had been attacking a nearby town, bounding forward even as he called back to her, "I never had to do this many jobs back with Tartaros!"

"That's because you guys felt like you had to be all mysterious," she let her still unfamiliar new magic wash over her, "Star dress: Cancer form!"

She feels blades far larger than the ones that Cancer normally wielded settle into her hands, letting herself flow into the movements that had been drilled into her head for the past few months.

There were only two dozen of the beasts, none of them particularly large, so it doesn't take long to dispatch them. Jackal looks supremely disappointed when she beats him to the punch on the last one, bringing the flat of one of her swords down on the creature's head.

Lucy let the magic linger as examined the wolves, keeping the swords out just in case a few had escaped notice, which was unlikely considering Jackal's excellent sense of smell. Speaking of Jackal, he didn't appear to have moved from where he had finished off his last enemy.

She turns around, mouth open to demand his help, when she notices his own open mouth stare, "What's up, Fido?"

The dog joke didn't even seem to faze him, he continued staring at her for several more moments before seemingly snapping out of it. He rubbed the back of his head awkwardly, his one visible eye scrunching in embarrassment, "Sorry, you've just got some blood on you."

She flushed, "Seriously?!" looking down at her arms Lucy realized that there were indeed flecks of blood on most of her arms and torso, "How did that get there?" she said bitterly.

"It's not a bad look for you, as long as it's not your own I mean!"

Lucy snickers at his embarrassed look, walking forward until there is less than a foot between them. She leans forward, her hands fisted against her hips. "You think I look nice with blood on me?"

Jackal seemed lost for words once again, his mouth hanging open and his golden eye wide as he looked back at her, "Yes?"

She scowls back, "Who the hell thinks that? Even if it's not mine?"

He flushes further, "It just makes you look intimidating," and then in a lower voice, as if to himself, "I want to lick it off." Suddenly the color seems to drain from his face, as Jackal realizes what he had said.

Lucy's pretty sure that her mouth is just agape as Jackal's, all the blood in his cheeks having traveled to hers. She keeps trying to move her lips, but no words come out, only a quiet choking-like sound.

In fact she appears to have no control over what comes out of her mouth at all, because she absolutely does not want to respond like she does, "You absolutely should."

Now they're both red and embarrassed, and she's regretting having woken up that morning. The sudden presence of a gentle hand on her face is not something she expected, and the close proximity of Jackal's face to her is making her whole body feel warm.

Lucy's got a policy on relationships with those she has contracts with, but she's pretty sure she can make an exception.

His lips are gentle against hers, soft where she would have expected that to be hard and unyielding (not that she's imagined this!), everything she wanted from (what she considers to be) her first kiss. It's over fast, Jackal steps back quickly, his ears pointed forward on his head.

There's probably laws against this, Lucy decides as she leans forward of her own volition, and if there aren't already than Mard Geer will absolutely create them. His eye is wide in shock, and she watches it flutter closed as their lips meet again. Callused hands grip her shoulders loosely, and this kiss is more confident but no less gentle.

She's definitely making an exception, Lucy decides as Jackal pulls her closer, hands tightening on her shoulders.

Of course that's when her new communication lacrima (courtesy of Warren, who had sent a nice letter but opted not to rejoin the guild at that date) goes off. Jackal stiffens against her, moving his head to bury it into her neck with a huff.

"Your guild mates have the worst timing ever."

"What else are friends for, now get off me so that I can answer this," he grudgingly obliges, leaving her feeling cold even with the warm wind against her.

It's Mest who greets her after she finally allows her star dress to fade and answers the call, he looks more unhappy than usual when Jackal's involved.

"We've got a problem."

"What sort of problem?" She's not sure whether or not that kiss was worth getting up after all.

"Markarov is in trouble," he seems furious, "I didn't want to tell the guild because I was worried they might do something stupid even after I thought I covered it, but we were missing a vital piece of information."

Lucy feels a chill run down her spine, "What's wrong! Tell me!"

"Markarov went to negotiate with the Emperor Spriggan of Alvarez." Lucy doesn't have to know what that means to understand that the intake of breath from beside her can't mean anything good.


	9. Chapter 9

“What are they doing here?”

Lucy quirked her head to look at Jackal, curious at his sudden scowl, “Who’s here?” She asked as they continued their brisk walk back to guild hall.

Jackal’s brows furrowed, his nose twitching, obviously the source of his discomfort, “The Oracion Seis,” he said.

She felt her steps falter, breaking her stride, before she composed herself, “I think it’s actually the Crime Sorciere now.” Lucy glanced at him from the corner of her eyes, but his annoyed expression didn’t change.

“A bunch of snitches is what they are,” Jackal grumbled, Lucy could hear his steps becoming heavier as he stomped his feet. Lucy felt her breath catch in her throat, unsure whether to laugh at his childish behavior or to stay silent, it had been Tartaros’s downfall that had led to the Seis being released after all. She refrained from saying anything, but Jackal was willing to fill the silence. “Why the hell are they here anyway?”

Lucy shrugged, more to herself since the demon hadn’t stopped glaring at the approaching guild hall. “It probably has to do with Master Markarov.” Lucy halted suddenly, “Speaking of, what is it you’re not telling me about this?”

Jackal paused as well, finally turning to look at her, “You managed to make it all the way here without asking that, really?” Lucy thought it was really unfair that he looked that good when he smiled, because it was hard to stay mad at him when he had that carefree grin on his face. “Just wait a few minutes, I don’t want to have to explain it again.”

She huffed, brushing past him to open the guild doors, allowing him to slip in after her. Of course they both then had to duck back out of the door to avoid being hit by a stray bolt of lightning.

Lucy plastered herself against the door, afraid to peak her head in lest she get hit in the wake of whoever had pissed off Fairy Tail’s master. “Are all legal guilds like this?” Jackal asked, lying at her feet after having thrown himself to the ground to avoid the magical strike.

“I’m pretty sure it’s just this one, when I first joined the master had to stop a bar fight before I got my mark.” Lucy felt herself relax from her stiff posture, as her shoulders shook at Jackal’s incredulous stare.

“You Fairies are nuts,” Lucy looked up to see Tempesta leaning out of the doorway, an eyebrow raised at their hiding spot. “It’s safe now, your Master’s being contained.”

Lucy felt her own eyebrows shoot up involuntarily, who in earthland could contain Laxus in a rampage. “What has him so angry?”

“The ex-councilman,” Tempesta paused, his nose scrunching up minutely, “Mest, was it?”

Lucy nodded in response, Tempesta was the only one who got a pass for not remembering her guildmates names, since he frequently woke up with no recollection of his own.

At her approval Tempesta’s face relaxed, his mouth quirking into a small smile, “He’s been keeping secrets from your master, apparently.” Lucy winced, Laxus was not one for secrets. “Speaking of, he’s not happy with your or Mard, either,” Tempesta added, facing Jackal.

Jackal’s face contorted into a face of exaggerated offense, still not moving from his sprawl on the floor. “What! What have I done?” Lucy gave him an unimpressed look, causing him to wilt. “Alright, but I’m still not sure what I’ve done to your master.”

Whatever Tempesta was going to say was cut off as the guild halls doors were blown open, throwing the normally composed demon to the ground in a heap next to Jackal.

“Get. In. Here. Now.” Lucy quailed under Laxus’s glare, which really wasn’t fair because she was pretty sure she hadn’t actually done anything wrong. She watched the guild master stomp inside, obviously in a foul mood.  Instead of complaining she decided to do the intelligent thing and scramble after him, Jackal and Tempesta right on her heels. Of course that meant when she froze in her tracks they all crashed back onto the floor.

“This is so not funny,” she said. Jackal’s laughter vibrated against her back, which would have been nice in any situation where he was not actually on top of her, and Tempesta wasn’t exactly a lightweight either. “Get off me you idiots.”

Tempesta stood gracefully, dusting off his pants as if trying to pretend that he hadn’t landed on the ground twice in the last minute. Jackal rolled over, taking his weight off of her, but obviously not of the opinion that getting up was a pressing concern. Tempesta took the opportunity to kick him in the side, Jackal groaned in complaint but didn’t move to rectify his situation.

Lucy huffed, pushing herself to her knees, to find a hand being offered to help her up. “It’s good to see you again Jellal.”

Jellal offered her a slim smile, hefting her up effortlessly. “I’m being told I’m supposed to go by Mystogan for the immediate future.”

Lucy looked around, suddenly remembering why she had freezed in the first place, all of who seemed engrossed in watching Jackal desperately try to fend off Tempesta’s foot without actually getting up from the floor.

“I guess it would help to explain your presence.” Seeing that no one looked about to put an end to the fight happening on the guild floor she decided it would be okay to keep talking to the ex-saint. “So, what are you guys doing her anyway, if you don’t mind me asking?”

Jellal turned to look at her, “You don’t know?” he said,

She blinked, “No, all I know is what Mest told me, that Markarov is in Alvarez and that we needed to get back to the guild immediately.”

“I don’t understand what the sudden problem is, we’ve been handling it for the past few months,” Cobra said from his nearby barstool. Given that the rest of the Crime Sorciere were seated at an actual table Lucy decided it was probably because of the dazzling smile Kinana was giving him. Cobra glared at her, which was surprisingly effective given he only had one functioning eye.

“The problem is that we’ve received new information. Aren’t you supposed to be able to read minds?” Mest said as he walked over to stand next to them.

To his credit Cobra didn’t rise to what was obviously a bait, instead merely sneering, “It’s hard to hear anything at all with how noisy this guild is.” Lucy had to agree with him, even with less than two dozen Fairy Tail members having returned to the guild it was still exceedingly noisy.

Although, she conceded, spotting Ezel trying to convince Richard to arm wrestle him, some of the noise wasn’t from the actual guild members.

Apparently Laxus had returned from whatever errand he had been doing because all commotion in the guild ended when a sudden bolt of lightning struck the still struggling Jackal and Tempesta. He at least looked a little calmer, his face having lost its scowl to be replaced by blank expression. Grabbing the collar of Mard Geer’s shirt from the corner where the king of the underworld had been trying to hide he dragged him over, scooping up Jackal in his other fist.

Depositing them both on a stool he leaned against the counter, still towering over most of the guild. “So, Jackal, was it, your boss tells me you’ve been to Alvarez before.”

Jackal nodded, obviously not daring to say anything lest he anger Fairy Tail’s master.

“He also says you’ve met their Emperor,” Laxus said.

“Sorry to interrupt, but can someone fill me in one what’s happening?” Lucy interrupted, bracing herself to face the wrath of Laxus.

Instead of becoming angry like she expected, Laxus seemed to deflate, “Gramps went to Alvarez to try and negotiate with their Emperor,” Jackal made a choking noise from next her, “he’s trying to buy time.”

“Buy time for what?” Mard asked, his face inscrutable.

The squeak of another stool heralded the arrival of Jellal to the counter, “Did the chairman not tell you what Face was supposed to be used for?” he said.

“A weapon that destroys all magic isn’t exactly a useful weapon for mages,” Jackal said, rubbing his ears, where Laxus had lifted him from.

“The Alvarez Empire’s military is composed largely of mages,” Jellal explained, before stopping. “We’re getting off topic. The point is, the council has previously used Face to end hostilities with a far larger military force, and now it’s gone.”

“So Markarov wanted to buy whatever time he could,” Mest finished from his own seat.

“I don’t get why Fairy Tail’s master would have the power to negotiate on behalf of a country,” Mirajane said, before paling, “No offence, Master.”

Laxus huffed, “I don’t know either.” Turning to glare daggers at Mest, who was not holding up well under the full force of an angry dragon slayer.

Shifting in his seat, Mest averted his eyes away from the guild master. “It’s not really my place to tell you about these things, I really shouldn’t know myself.”

A growl was his only answer, raising the hair on Lucy’s neck and she debated making a break for it to not be caught in the crossfire. However, whatever punishment Laxus had in store for him was halted by the sudden appearance of bare feet on the bar counter.

“I can tell you what you need to know, but it might be hard with all the people that can’t see me.” Whatever doubts Lucy had about reforming the guild were erased, no one had seen the first Master since the guild had dissolved. Hopefully her presence was a good sign, though the unusually serious expression on Mavis’s childish face wasn’t exactly comforting.

**Author's Note:**

> I haven't posted fanfiction in like 2 years so please be gentle with me.


End file.
